NOAA Fisheries News Releases
NEWS RELEASE
February 4, 2008
Sheela McLean, Public Affairs
(907) 586-7032
NOAA Fisheries Releases Bowhead Whale Hunt Document
NOAA Fisheries Service has released a final environmental impact statement (EIS) proposing continued hunting of bowhead whales in Alaska.
"The final document proposes that we authorize subsistence harvests of the Western Arctic stock of bowhead whales for the years 2008 through 2012 under the Whaling Convention Act, and under a cooperative agreement with the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission,” said James Balsiger, Administrator for the Alaska Region of NOAA Fisheries Service. The public comment period for the document will end on March 3, 2008, to be followed by publication of a record of decision.
Under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) approved an overall five-year subsistence catch limit for the Western Arctic stock of bowhead whales based upon the needs of Native hunters in Alaskan villages and in Russian villages along the Chukotka Peninsula. On an annual basis, NOAA Fisheries Service issues the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission the Alaskan share of this quota by regulation. In 2007 Alaska natives consumed 42 whales for subsistence.
The IWC conducted its 59th annual meeting in May 2007 in Anchorage, Alaska. Based on the management advice of its Scientific Committee, the IWC adopted a catch limit for 2008-2012 identical to that of the previous five-year period. Alternative 3 of the final EIS corresponds to the IWC action, and is the agency’s preferred alternative. For more information on the proposed action, or to download a copy of the final EIS, visit www.fakr.noaa.gov/protectedresources/whales/bowhead.
For CD copies of the final document, contact Steven K. Davis, NOAA Fisheries Service, 222 West 7th Ave., #517, Anchorage, AK 99513. Written comments can be submitted to the same address or by email to bowhead-FEIS@noaa.gov. When submitting email comments, use Final Bowhead Whale EIS in the subject line.
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries Service) is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat. To learn more about NOAA Fisheries in Alaska, please visit our websites at: alaskafisheries.noaa.gov or at: www.afsc.noaa.gov.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.